After seeing and sailing Spirit my mind was pretty much made up. I had fallen in love with Spirit the first moment I saw her and had decided then and there that unless there were some serious defects I would buy her and sail her home to Australia. The plan was to then fix her up a bit in Australia and then to sail her to Thailand where I would start a daysailing business doing trips around the Islands.​Spirit did have some small issues though and there was some work to be done beforehand. We decided to haul Spirit out of the water at the Newport Shipyard in Rhode Island. There we would cut back the old plywood float or AMA decks and then replace them with new carbon decks. We would also replace all the damaged frames and bulkheads, we'd rewire the interior, paint the interior, replace rigging, replace the foredeck as it was also rotten and service the main engine all this along with many other small jobs.By the time we got Spirit hauled out of the water it was the start of October and in this neck of the woods it gets very cold very quickly. Without hast I found a local shipwright whom was experienced with carbon and we went about removing the old decks and making new ones. My nephew Brayden arrived from Australia to have a life experience and to help out.The work went on for nearly two months and it wasn't until the middle of December that we were ready to head south. As with most jobs we ended up doing far more than first thought and with the weather conditions we had it was inevitable that we would end up having to build a tent over Spirit so as we could heat the area and do the work in a controlled environment properly.​After two months of cold water, sanding and grinding, painting, re-wiring and the likes we were so excited to head off and to get to warmer climates. I don't think any amount of cold bad weather would have stopped us from departing as we were so keen to make a move and see our new girl gliding over the oceans surface!